Program

Pedro Pedrosa (Innovalley) holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Biology and a PhD in Biotechnology from NOVA University Lisbon. He led R&D at Nano4Global, a diagnostics spin-off, and served as president of WACT, fostering social entrepreneurship in Portugal and São Tomé and Príncipe. Joining ITQB NOVA’s Innovation Office in 2021, he has coordinated the unit since April 2024, enhancing research impact.

Luis Martins (Food4Sustainability) is the services director at Food4Sustainability where he manages the actions through implementation of innovative projects focus on sustainable intensification of agrifood sector, in particular sustainable and regenerative farming practices. Luís holds a PhD in Industrial Biotechnology working more than five years in valorisation of agrifood residues into added-value products exploring sustainable bioprocesses. He also works in close collaboration with EIT Food, as Seedbed Incubator community manager where supports some startups, mainly focus on sustainable agriculture and protein diversification, in their market discovery.

Carlos Fontes (Nzytech) was born on December 9, 1968, in Lisbon, Portugal, completed his PhD in Molecular Biology at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, in 1996, working in Prof. Harry J. Gilbert’s laboratory. After a post-doctoral position at the University of Lisbon with Prof. Luís Ferreira’s group, he joined the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Lisbon, where he became a Full Professor in 2014. During his tenure, Carlos conducted pioneering research in structural and molecular biology, focusing on protein-protein interactions, carbohydrate-active enzymes (CAZymes), and carbohydrate-binding modules (CBMs). He has supervised 17 PhD students and co-authored over 200 papers published in international refereed journals. In September 2020, he transitioned to the role of Scientific Director at NZYTech Genes & Enzymes, a company he founded in 2008. NZYTech conducts pioneering research to develop innovative solutions in recombinant enzymes and molecular kits for the life science and molecular diagnostics markets.

Pedro Fevereiro, (InnovPlantProtect), is the Executive Director of InnovPlantProtect (CoLab), Visiting Full Professor at ITQB NOVA, Researcher member of the Green-it Research Unit, Member of the National Ethics Council for Life Sciences, Member of the Board of Directors of the International Doctoral Programme “Plants for Life” (ITQB NOVA), Member of the National Council and First President of the Public Association of Biologists, Scientific Reviewer of the National Biology and Geology Examinations. Areas of expertise: Plant Biology and Biotechnology; Plant Cell and Molecular Biology; Functional Genomics; Molecular Diversity of Cultivated Plants; Crop Protection.

Miguel Costa (Colorifix)
is the Implementation Lead at Colorifix, a biotechnology company that has developed a biological process to create, fix and deposit pigments onto textiles. The company was founded back in 2016 by scientists at Cambridge University and is today a team of 100 people working across the globe to replace toxic chemicals with biology. Miguel has been with the company for over 2 years and has a background in bioprocessing and textile manufacturing.

Josué Carvalho (Invitek/ALS Ltd.)
is the Business and Strategic Relations Officer of ALS Life Sciences Portugal working at the interface between R&D and the market and is responsible for identifying business development opportunities in the various fields of molecular diagnostics. He obtained his PhD in Biomedicine in 2020 at the University of Beira Interior (Covilhã, Portugal) where he developed nucleic acid-based therapeutics for cervical cancer and HPV infection, having authored and co-authored 28 research papers. Currently at ALS, he is involved in the development phases of new products for Invitek Diagnostics (a division of ALS) and is responsible for finding opportunities for partnerships, funding, and customers. Josué enjoys bridging the research and business facets with strong commitment to the client’s satisfaction and loves to communicate science and product development..

Joana Silva (Arborea) is
BSc in Microbiology, MSc in Biology and Neuroscience and a PhD in Biotechnology in Catholic University of Porto. Since 2010 has been working with microalgae in the industrial environment managing applied research. For more than 7 years has been the Plant and R&D Manager of Allmicroalgae, Pataias and more recently joined Arborea Biofoods as Head of Biotechnology. More than 200 papers in journals with international peer revision.

José Oliveira (Medinfar Sorológico) was involved in animal production from an early age, as he grew up following an extensive agroforestry sheep farm, a family business in Ribatejo, where he provides technical assistance. He graduated in Veterinary Medicine from the Vasco da Gama University School (EUVG) in 2006 and has a postgraduate degree in Pharmaceutical Marketing Management from the Lisbon School of Economics and Management (ISEG) in 2012. During his academic period, lived in Portugal and Spain and got expertise from various European universities. He has worked in the Veterinary Pharmaceutical Industry since 2008, for various national and international companies, in the Marketing and Sales areas. Responsible for managing the Veterinary Business Unit of the Medinfar Group (Medinfar Sorológico) since 2012, currently, spends most of his time managing and developing the Autovaccine Laboratory of Medinfar Sorológico. He is also Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Apifvet (Portuguese Association of the Pharmaceutical Industry of Veterinary Medicines).

Ana Palmeira de Oliveira (Labfit HPRD, Lda) is from Porto. She is Graduated and Master in Pharmaceutical Sciences from FFUP and has a PhD in the same area from UBI. She is a guest assistant professor at the UNI Faculty of Health Sciences, and a researcher at the UBI Health Sciences Research Center. She is author and co-author of more than a hundred scientific publications and supervisor of several completed and ongoing master’s and doctoral studies in health sciences.
Since September 2012, she is the CEO of HPRD Lda, a company based in Covilhã and which owns the Labfit and Pharmapoli brands. Since 2022, she is the President of the Board of the Beira Baixa Business Association, is also a member of the General Council of the Portuguese Business Confederation, vice-president of the Center Chamber of Commerce and Industry, president of the supervisory board of the Portuguese Society of Cosmetological Sciences, vice- President of the Iberian Interior Tourism Association, and President of CosmeticCluster.PT.

Maria João Alegria (Sumol+Compal) has a Degree in Technological Chemistry from Faculty of Sciences, Lisbon University. Since March 2013 she assumes a role as Applied Research Manager at SUMOL COMPAL, due to her expertise on Academia-Company interface management, including contributing to the creation of Collaborative Laboratories, namely CoLab4Food. Resulting from her technical and management functions at SUMOL COMPAL, where she started in 1992, possesses a wide understanding of the company and of food industry in general, across several domains. Recently, she affiliated to LEAF- Linking Landscape, Environment, Agriculture and Food Research Centre and is co-author of several scientific publications in the scope of projects funded by several agencies.

Catarina Prista (Cookinglab) is an Assistant Professor at School of Agriculture – University of Lisbon (ISA). She is responsible for the scientific areas of Fermented Food and Functional Microbiology in Biology, and Food Engineering and Gastronomical Sciences Masters. She integrates the LEAF (Linking Landscape, Environment, Agriculture and Food) Research center and Colégio for Tropical Sciences. In the last years, she has allied the field of Microbial Molecular Biology and Physiology with her expertise in Fermentations towards the development of new fermented food and beverages. She won 6 awards related to fermented food development and food innovation, including 3 “Born from knowledge” from the Portuguese Innovation Agency. She is partner and scientific manager of CookLab,Lda, a SME company devoted to food development and innovation.

Program

Contact: microsummit2024@gmail.com